According to GHSI 2019 report by WHO, world is unprepared for outbreaks of major infectious diseases, with Asian countries facing significant risks, Thailand & South Korea were among the best-performing countries in Asia, while India was at 57th rank.
Only 13 of nearly 200 countries score in the top tier.
Girish Chander Murmu, appointed the 1st LG of J&K. R K Mathur will be 1st LG of Ladakh. P S Sreedharan Pillai will take charge as new governor of Mizoram, while S.P Malik will govern Goa. Dineshwar Sharma has been appointed as administrator to Lakshadweep.
The 2 UTs -- Ladakh and J&K will come into existence on 31 Oct.
Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu addressed Indian diaspora in Azerbaijan. He reached Baku to attend the 19th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit. Azerbaijan had released a postal stamp to celebrate the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th birth anniversary.
Azerbaijan Capital-Baku, Currency-Azerbaijan Manat.
Gandhinagar district of Gujarat has become the 1st Kerosene-free district of the state. Home Minister Amit Shah has allotted 1000 LPG connections to the women beneficiaries of Gandhinagar district under the Ujjwala Yojana with the help of ONGC.
Projects under Gandhinagar Smart City Yojana have been launched.
Seven mining and metals companies-including Tata Steel from India-have partnered with the Geneva based World Economic Forum to accelerate responsible sourcing of raw materials. The new initiative will explore the building of blockchain solutions.
Borge Brende is the president of WEF.
Ministry of Health & Family Welfare will observe the Vigilance Awareness Week from 28th October-2nd November 2019 as per directions of Central Vigilance Commission. It is observed to promote probity in public life & to achieve a corruption free society.
The 2019 theme is “Integrity- a way of life”.
Fitch Ratings has lowered India's FY20 GDP growth forecast to 5.5% from 6.6% & said a large credit squeeze emanating from NBFCs has pushed economic growth to a 6-year low. The projection is lower than 6.1 % that the RBI had forecast in early October.
Moody's Investors had slashed 2019-20 GDP forecast to 5.8%.
Kyarr -The cyclone formed over the east-central Arabian Sea is likely to gain strength and become a severe cyclonic storm. The cyclone will continue moving west-north westwards towards Oman coast over the next five days away from the Indian coast.
Indian Meteorological Department is headquartered in New Delhi.
India & Germany will discuss cooperation in green urban mobility & AI during their 5th Biennial Inter Governmental Consultations in New Delhi. They will also discuss the deepening of cooperation in sectors such as transport, skill development & energy.
Angela Merkel is to visit India at the invitation of PM Modi.
Amazon founder & CEO Jeff Bezos has lost the title as the world's richest man, paving the way for Bill Gates to grab the top spot. Bezos ended Gates' 24-year run as the richest man in 2018 and became the 1st man on earth with a net worth of $160 billion.
Gates debuted on Forbes' first ever billionaire list in 1987.
India & US have agreed to collaborate on futuristic military technologies to develop drone swarms, that had agreed on 7 projects in the DTTI meeting. This has been recently inked in the joint Statement of Intent to deepen defence cooperation.
DTTI- Defence Technology and Trade Initiative was held in 2012.